NEW YORK, NY.- Inaugurated in 1995, Dia's Artist Web Projects series commissions artists to create original projects for the internet. Iñaki Bonillas's Words and Photos, his first commission in the United States, has launched online.

For Words and Photos, his first web-based project, Bonillas digitized a collection of photographs-the vast J. R. Plaza Archive, a family heirloom that dates back to 1900-while simultaneously creating an extensive index of associated words that "mirrors" the image database. Exploring the irrepressible relation between language and pictures, Bonillas's work invites readers to engage in a quest of encyclopedic dimensions that originates with a word and opens onto the artist's family history. Starting with a set of 400 initial images, Words and Photos will progressively expand to include the entire J. R. Plaza Archive, which reaches approximately 3,800 images.

"Dia's mission has focused on accompanying artists to new terrains in their practice, enabling exciting inquiries. The Artist Web Projects series has been a catalyst for creative investigations that consider the formal dimension of the web, its immediacy, immateriality, and accessibility," said Yasmil Raymond, Dia curator. "Transitioning from analog to digital, Bonillas's project reinvents notions of displaying and archiving while questioning a vast array of photographic registrers."

"We have long admired Iñaki Bonillas's conceptual investigation of photography," said Manuel Cirauqui, Dia assistant curator, "and we feel honored to host Words and Photos, a new platform for rethinking the incredible J. R. Plaza Archive. This progressive, fluctuating index brings the audience toward a deeper experience of images and language, meaning and randomness."

Bonillas's Words and Photos was developed with assistance from Mexico-based artist and programmer Iván Abreu and the design studio Taller de Comunicación Gráfica.

Iñaki Bonillas was born in Mexico City in 1981, where he currently lives and works. Recent solo exhibitions include The Story of the Sinking Ship Which Is a Ship and Yet Is Not, LIGA Space for Architecture, Mexico City (2013); J. R. Plaza Archive, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona (2012); and Double Chiaroscuro, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France (2011). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including The Imminence of Poetics, São Paulo Bienal (2012); Resisting the Present, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (2012); Little Theater of Gestures, Kunstmuseum Basel and Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (2009); and Utopia Station, Venice Biennale (2003).

Iván Abreu was born in Havana in 1967 and lives and works in Mexico City. His work integrates art, design, science, and technology. He is the recipient of the 2012-14 grant from the National System of Art Creators of FONCA, and previous honors include The Prix Ars Electronica (2012) and the CINTAS Foundation Award in Visual Arts, (2011-12).